The Street Samurai is the classic protagonist archetype in Cyber Punk and Post Cyber Punk, but also shows up on occasion when those genres are mixed with Dungeon Punk and Urban Fantasy. Hackers, warriors, and anti-authoritarian loners, these characters fight against the dystopian governments and Megacorps that rule their worlds. They are down-on-their-luck souls that Walk the Earth because their own personal codes of honor make them refuse to sell out to authority. Typical goals for this sort of character are Information Wants to Be Free and bringing down the very society in which they live in order to make a better one.

Despite the name, these characters have a lot more in common with ronin and even more so with ninja (see also Cyber Ninja) than they do with samurai, being essentially descendants of recognizable types drawn from hard-boiled private-eye literature and Film Noir.

Being inspired by Neuromancer, the human protagonists of The Matrix exhibit characteristics of this, especially Trinity.

The main character from Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is a gangster hitman who lives by the code of Bushido and has a number of anachronistic habits, such as communicating by messenger pigeon. RZA has a cameo as another one of these.

Kill Bill: The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad is a group of assassins, some of whom use katanas. While The Bride is in a coma for several years and Bill is in semi-retirement raising their daughter, the group disbands and the members either retire or work solo, essentially becoming ronin.

In Elysium, the main villain is Kruger, a cyborg for hire who carries a katana.

Literature

Molly Millions from Neuromancer and other works by William Gibson is the Trope Namer and ur-example. She's a "razorgirl" with cybernetically enhanced reflexes, lenses grafted over her eyes, and double-edged scalpel blades implanted under her fingernails.

Hiro Protagonist in Snow Crash is a pizza deliveryman and freelance hacker, but his combat skills, talent for working high-tech espionage, and willingness to take on enemies far larger than himself to do what's right are what make him an example. Raven does work as a mercenary, but he's got his own agenda.

Sri Death from Tais Teng's Memoirs of a Matriarchy and Neon Moon anthologies. Though he is practically invulnerable and possibly immortal by the end of his arc, he still suffers from Badass Decay to make the point that the universe is ruled by forces greater than any single person can control.

The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy song, "Satanic Reverses" has a line:

Sent Joey to the Supreme CourtCause he made a statement, they called itDesecration of the symbol that was meant to representThe freedom of so-called choice and dissentThey almost had me believin' it, I was bleedin' itHe said, "Burn, baby, burn"Til the Street Samurai said to my faceThat any flag that's worth shitWas woven from fire in the first place.

In this context, the "Street Samurai" is likely Rono Tse, fellow Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy bandmate.

Tabletop Games

In Shadowrun, this trope describes the archetypical Shadowrunner, i.e. the Player Character. The title 'Street Samurai' is used in-game for one of the classic runner archetypes, specifically the independent fighting guy who augments his abilities with lots of cyberware. Fighters who augment themselves with magic, who augment themselves with corporate backing, or who rely on pure skill rather than augmentation, do not fit this definition.

Video Games

There's an obscure PS2 game called Seven Samurai 20XX based on the Seven Samurai set in a cyberpunk world.

In SNES classic X-calibur 2097 the player character is this; same well for his Evil Twin brother.

All the player characters in the Deus Ex series can end up this way, depending on the path you choose.

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